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  • 06/12/2024 Fishing Report by Andy Savage on Sea Urchin IIl (Whitby, North Yorkshire)

    6 Dec 2024 by Andy Savage

    Report on-board Sea Urchin IIl

    It's been a few weeks since I've been able to produce a catch report. We've suffered with the usual rubbish weather for the time of year. I've been keeping busy doing small jobs on the boat that I haven't had the chance to do through the Summer. I've also been down to Plymouth on a Tuna fishing/handling course with Kev Lavis who Skippers on Crusader Charters, which was really interesting and informative.

    On Wednesday and Thursday this week we finally got the chance to have a couple of days at sea. I had been asked once again to participate in a two day Uptiding Competition for the Police, Armed Forces and Civil Service. I was more than happy to join in having done the competition last year and had a brilliant time.

    Four of the WCSA Association boats had been chartered, so along with Shy Torque, Alliance and Trot-On we would be spending a couple of days Uptiding. The weather was pretty rough on the run-in to Wednesday, but thankfully, we managed to get out for both days in the end. I had a group of eight lads aboard who were very keen to get started and I could tell they took their fishing seriously, as they were all very well kitted out and organised with good bait.

    The format for the competition was that all the species of fish caught would be measured, then points were allocated according to species and size, off the chart which the Skippers were given by the organiser. So even a 25cm Pouting or 45cm Dogfish contributed points towards the overall total along with the preferred Codling etc. It's a really great way to fish, with every fish counting. Prizes would be awarded to the top three point scoring anglers over the combined two days. Also a prize was awarded for the biggest Codling (on the measure, not by weight).

    We ran south towards Robin Hoods Bay on Wednesday and we had a fairly reasonable day. The winds were light and with a 5.2m tide, we caught fairly consistently throughout the day and there were flushes of fish moving through so we only moved a couple of time to reposition the boat. There were plenty of Codling caught up to 55cm, along with Pouting, Whiting & Dogfish and a solo Haddock. The lads were using Squid and Black Lugworm baits in the main and fishing with running leads and flowing 3-4ft traces with a pennel arangement of hooks on; or scratching type rigs with smaller bits of bait on short hook snoods. Switching between the two different rigs allowed the lads to keep the bites coming and the scoreboard ticking over.

    Thursday gave slightly more breeze to contend with, but the sea conditions weren't bad at all, so we ran south again. For whatever reason, we caught probably half the quantity of fish we had the previous day. The most noticeable thing we found was that in the places we stopped at there weren't many flushes of fish running. We would initially catch the fish that were in the vicinity of the boat then it just died off. Consequently, we moved a few more times on Thursday to try and fish the fish.

    Overall it was two really enjoyable days at sea for me. With the additional measuring, netting and recording of all the fish caught, the days just flew by as I was always busy. The chat and banter amongst the lads was excellent and brutal in equal measure! We all convened at The Middle Earth Pub for Pie & Peas with a couple of pints to do the presentations to round off a great competition.

    Unfortunately I didn't get much chance to take any fish pictures, so I've just stuck with the sunrise on Wednesday morning. Thanks to everyone who took part. It was certainly a highlight of the year for me. Looking forward to 2025 already.

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    UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Sea Urchin IIl
    Fri 20/12/2024
    5 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 4.93m John Gregory - x 2 David Setterington - x 1
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    Sat 21/12/2024
    1 Space Available Uptiding Trip - 4.71m Tim Albright - x 2 Jimmy Yeung - x 1 Nathanial Henry - x 1 Kev Totterdell - x 3
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    Fri 03/01/2025
    4 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 5.29m Will Bird - x 1 Bod - x 1 Steve Whitaker - x 2
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    Sat 04/01/2025
    1 Space Available Uptiding Trip - 5.21m John Bennison - x 7
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    Fri 10/01/2025
    3 Spaces Available Wrecking Trip - 4.76m Richard Moulds - x 2 Steve Ralphson - x 2 Luke Hayward - x 2
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    Sat 11/01/2025
    4 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 4.96m Luke Hayward - x 2 Stephen Austin - x 2
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    Tue 14/01/2025
    2 Spaces Available Uptiding Trip - 5.31m Dave & Del - x 2 Stan Matthews - x 1 Ian Purdom - x 1 Keith Pickering - x 1 Joe Clough - x 1
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    Fri 17/01/2025
    2 Spaces Available Biggest Bag Competition £150 Prize Money Uptiding Trip - 5.18m Ian Kellock - x 1 Gordon Blyth - x 3 Jim Lister - x 1 Barry Allcock - x 1
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    Tue 21/01/2025
    9 Spaces Available Wrecking Trip - 4.51m Will sail with 4 anglers. Gareth Hiddleston - x 1
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    Thu 23/01/2025
    8 Spaces Available Wrecking Trip - 4.25m Will sail with 4 anglers. Joe Clough - x 1 Philip Coupland - x 1
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